Page 105 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
Soon, with clothes changed, candles lit, and food reheated, they resumed their dinner with a chunky woolen throw draped over their legs.
Nori peeked sideways to catch the warm glow from the candles illuminating Vir’s features—the edges of his jaw, his nose, his soft, full mouth as it moved while he chewed… Had she really thought him plain only hours ago?
His dark hair wasn’t dripping anymore, but was still visibly damp. She had the sudden impulse to run her hands through them, to feel the texture between her fingers.
“STOP!”
“Pardon?” Vir turned to her, and his eyes widened as they met hers. A tint of bright red seeped into his ears before it spread across his cheeks. He looked down, suddenly too engrossed in the contents of his bowl.
Did he just… blush?
Nori glared down at her own food while fighting another unhinged impulse that demanded she grab his face with both hands just to feel that delicious color on her fingertips. It looked so warm.
STOP IT!At least this time she yelled the words in her head and not out loud. When she glanced towards him again, he was pursing his lips as if trying not to laugh.
With an irritated huff, she took another forkful of pasta and crushed it aggressively between her teeth. And then her dumb mouth blurted out, “Do you have a girlfriend?”
For fuck’s sake, shehadto stop embarrassing herself.
“I did.” Vir chewed slowly. “She… left.”
He looked sad. More than sad. He looked like he was grieving. Maybe it was a recent breakup.
“Don’t tell me she was your first love or something.” Nori stabbed her fork into a particularly large slice of mushroom and brought it up to her mouth, not expecting an actual reply from him this time.
Vir nodded.
Come onnnnn!
“I wonder when the power’s coming back.” She didn’t want to hear about his stupid first love anymore.
Twenty Eight
Cheesy Ex-Girlfriend
*barf noises*
January 2023:
Shoja, Himachal Pradesh
Nori
Aheavy downpour followed the short boutof hail, falling for hours in thick, near opaque sheets. Without power, Nori’s car was useless, and walking home wasn’t an option.
“I have a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo,” she told Vir in the most nonchalant tone she could come up with as they discussed sleeping arrangements for the night, “just so you know.”
She’d learned the martial art twice in the past decade. At first, sometime during her lost years. Then again, a few years ago, intrigued by her uniform and old pictures that she’d found at her parents’ house. She’d learned the systems quickly, falling into the rhythms and movements her body had seemed to know so well, even though her mind couldn’trecall a single thing.
“I’m also averylight sleeper,” she added. A lie. But Vir wouldn’t know.
Her gaze swept over him, sizing him as a threat, and she suddenly had to keep a random burst of giggles from escaping her. Maybe she was still too jet lagged or something.
Vir looked pale but otherwise healthy, with a lean athletic build that stood in stark contrast to the gaunt-looking version of him in her old files. He was all better now.
She bit back a smile.
She could totally take him in a fight, though. Use his own body weight against him and flip him over before grabbing his neck in a chokehold. Easy. She smirked to herself, picturing all the different maneuvers she could use to incapacitate him if he tried messing with her.
